While you’re studying during Shavuot, you may want to include a new book by local author, poet and public speaker Barbara Mark-Dreyfuss. Remember Always is a short book of original poems presented as a “lens of connecting with our past, present and future in a spiritual way like no other.”
Barbara has often been asked to create and recite poems prior to the High Holy Days and other special services and always receives requests for copies of her work. She decided to put the spiritual poems together in a book and is happy to make the collection available to congregations to use for no fee. Some of the poems deal with the Holocaust, others with personal loss. All are moving. They have particular resonance for Yizkor services but would resonate whenever they are used.
Rabbi Micah Caplan of Congregation Or Tzion says, “Barbara Mark-Dreyfuss has a way with poetry that leads us to a holier and more spiritual place with every word and every poem. (This book is) truly a masterpiece in the world of poetry.”
Barbara is a Scottsdale resident and can be reached at [email protected]
Another Scottsdale member of the Jewish community, Dr. Sandra Harris, recently had a novel published by Outskirts Press.
Sandra is a retired psychologist with a distinguished 33-year career. She received a B.A. from Stanford and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. As a VA clinical psychologist, she conducted psychotherapy with combat veterans in California. Shrapnel: A Journey Toward Psychological Healing is Sandra’s first attempt at writing fiction after spending her career writing psychological nonfiction. She is clear in pointing out that this book is entirely fiction but does acknowledge that she became interested in the challenges and problems of the Vietnam vets after spending so much time with them. The book is written from the perspective of eight returning vets, “highlighting their courage while examining the long-term effect of combat stress and helping to remove the stigma of mental health treatment.”
The book is available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.
